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The Fall of the Sith Order
"We knew this day would come. They have found our fortress among the stars. The Sith are on Reach. They will burn this planet, kill millions, and when Reach falls—and fall it will—there will be nothing left to stand between them... and Earth." :—Darth Sidious The Fall of the Sith Order, was the largest engagement in the Great Civil War It was fought between the Bronx OutLawz and the Sith Order from July 24th to August 30th, 2011, although a small number of Spartan survivors remained on the planet until September 7th. Background Despite suffering a severe defeat at the Battle of Sigma Octanus IV, the Covenant managed to place a tracking device on the Imperial Iroquois and use it to find human colony worlds. When the Iroquois returned to Reach, the human presence - and its extent - was disclosed and later revealed to the Covenant fleet. Ironically, the location of Reach was already known to the Covenant; a previously recovered Forerunner artifact indicated Reach held another artifact. At first, the OutLawz sent a pre-invasion force, consisting of a few corvettes and a supercarrier, the Long Night of Solace, to Reach and deployed a large ground force to the Viery Territory in secret. This invasion force was cloaked from the Galactic Empire sensors by sophisticated Stealth pylons deployed around it. The Empire also sent a small Stormtrooper Zealot strike team led by a Field Marshall to recover a Forerunner artifact from an excavation site near the Visegrad communications outpost. Battle Winter Contingency :"Colonel, this is Noble One. There are no rebels, the Covenant are on Reach." :—Carter-A2598 Before the eventual invasion, Noble Team was sent to investigate a disturbance in a communications array that kept Reach connected to the rest of the Confederates. Sabotage by Insurrectionists was suspected. As Noble Team arrived to the station, insurrectionists were nowhere to be found. Instead, they were soon ambushed by a group of Stormtrooper Zealots. Opening skirmishes :"Winter Contingency has been declared, all units are mobilized and ready." :—Imperial Officer The Bronx OutLawz had created a beachhead on Reach with anti-air guns around the perimeter of their staging area in the Viery Territory where they had covertly inserted a massive amount of forces, including several corvettes. After being discovered, the Sith forces attacked Sword Base in an attempt to overrun the ONI facility. However, these forces were repulsed after Noble Team reinforced the base and brought its anti-air turrets and communications back online. The Covenant corvette attacking it was forced to retreat and was destroyed by an orbital MAC round. Bronx Outlawz then sent reconnaissance teams into sith-controlled territory in preparation for a counterattack and to investigate the enemy positions and forces they would be facing. Sith counterattack :"...we are now under attack across the Viery territory, including Orbital Defenses. As per the Winter Contingency, we are countering on every front." :— Darth Krayt :The Imperial ground forces charge at a spartan formation at the Battle of Viery With the Empire staging ground on Reach, the Imperial Army launched an offensive in an attempt to defeat the Bronx forces before reinforcements could arrive. The assault was spearheaded by Noble Team with the Army who attacked Sith anti-air weapons to make way for Longsword fighters and frigates to attack the Empire Corvettes and make bombing runs. The attack, though initially successful, was thwarted when an Imperial supercarrier, Long Night of Solace, appeared over the area and attacked the Bronx Frigates, and reinforced the Spartan forces. Meanwhile, Spartan forces made another strike on Sword Base, this time with much greater success. The arrival of the supercarrier led to Operation: CUTUP, where Noble Team used Sabres and the corvette Ardent Prayer to deliver a "Slipspace Bomb" to the supercarrier and destroy it. Unfortunately, just as the supercarrier was finally destroyed, an advance Galactic Empire fleet arrived. Long Night of Solace being destroyed. Further engagements :Main article: Raid of New Alexandria Over the next week, the Sith ground forces landed on the planet and Sith ships began glassing targeted areas. A battle broke out in the city of New Alexandria, with large numbers of civilian evacuation transports being shot down by Covenant air and ground forces. Elements from Noble Team assisted Army and Marine forces in clearing evacuation zones, succeeding in damaging a Covenant corvette in the process. Though the Bronx OutLawz ultimately succeeded in clearing the city of Covenant troops, Covenant naval assets began to glass the city, and one member of Noble Team was killed by sniper fire while redeploying. Redeployed, Noble Team and a small force of Orbital Drop Shock Troopers were ordered to destroy the Covenant-occupied Sword Base in a scorched earth operation. Proceeding into the base, the team encountered Doctor Catherine Elizabeth Halsey, who enlisted their help in defending her laboratory amid the ruins of a Forerunner complex from advancing Covenant forces. Halsey ordered SPARTAN-B312 to transport a fragment of the A.I. Cortana to the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, while Jun-A266 escorted her to CASTLE Base elsewhere on Reach. Even as August 30th dawned, however, a second, much larger Covenant fleet was detected exiting Slipstream Space on the edge of the system. Second Covenant fleet arrives :"Gamma Station, this is Fermion RSO. Unconfirmed reports of an in-system Slipspace rupture." :—Fermion Remote Sensing Outpost :"Impossible. Check your source." :—Reach Station Gamma The approaching Covenant fleet was first detected in slipspace by Remote Scanning Outpost Fermion. The station's commander, Chief Petty Officer McRobb, sent an emergency message to FLEETCOM and ordered self-destruct to prevent the station's data from falling into enemy hands. A few minutes later 314 Covenant ships exited slipspace at the outskirts of the Epsilon Eridani System. WINTER CONTINGENCY was declared, and Admiral Roland Freemont issued file/bravo-tango-beta-five, ordering all ships in the system as well as those in the Jericho and Tantalus systems, to rendezvous at Reach in preparation for the coming assault. The Covenant moved in on the orbital defenses before the UNSC fleet fully consolidated. 52 late arriving UNSC ships, including the UNSC Pillar of Autumn, ran a gauntlet of screening Covenant warships as they attempted to link up with the main fleet. At the beginning of the battle, only about a hundred UNSC ships were readily available to defend Reach. Space battle A destroyed UNSC Frigate above Reach.Added by JugusThe main Covenant force moved in on the orbital defenses. The initial salvo of plasma torpedoes was mostly absorbed by three sacrificial refit and repair stations, allowing the defenders to return fire. The Orbital Defense Platforms and a nuclear minefield combined to take down a full third of the Covenant fleet, destroying about a hundred Covenant ships with the first salvo. The vaporized Titanium-A of the refit stations also served to block incoming plasma torpedoes. However, the next Covenant salvo significantly damaged the UNSC fleet, as the Covenant maneuvered for clear shots around the Titanium dust cloud and moved in for the kill. They destroyed a quarter of the Super MAC platforms, further crippling the UNSC orbital perimeter, before retreating out of range. A previously unknown warship type, the Covenant Supercruiser, carrying a new weapon, the energy projector, revealed itself destroying the UNSC Minotaur before withdrawing temporarily. The attacking fleet withdrew to regroup after deploying hundreds of dropships to the surface. The UNSC fleet pursued and destroyed a large number of the Covenant dropships, but many still made it through and landed on Reach's northern and southern poles. As the surviving dropships disgorged thousands of troops, the Covenant fleet began another attack. Some ships made pinpoint slipspace jumps, putting them within the UNSC formation. This left them vulnerable for a short time but allowed them to strike the ODPs directly. The Supercruiser returned and destroyed the UNSC Herodotus and UNSC Musashi from beyond ODP range. The UNSC Pillar of Autumn engaged and destroyed the Supercruiser, detonating a Shiva nuclear device inside the Covenant warship's shields. The detonation reverberated off the shield and disintegrated the Supercruiser. Attack on the orbital defense generators :"There are thousands of them. Grunts, Jackals and their warrior Elites. They have tanks and fliers. Christ, they've breached the perimeter. Fall back! Fall back! If anyone can hear this: the Covenant is ground-side. Massing near the armory!" :—UNSC Marine11 Thousands of Covenant landed on Reach in an attempt to destroy the Orbital Defense Generators, and were intercepted by Marine forces who were able to defend against the first few waves of Covenant forces while sustaining heavy casualties. The remaining SPARTAN-IIs who were not assigned to Reach Station Gamma were sent to Orbital Defense Generator Facility A-331 to assist in the defense of the station. Unfortunately, their Pelican escort, Bravo 001, was shot down, resulting in the deaths of four Spartans (including Malcolm-059), and some others were wounded as well. Near their crash site, the surviving Spartans discovered the shell-shocked remnants of Charlie Company. Charlie Company had been assigned by Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb to find the prototype NOVA Bombs. They were forced to help defend the Orbital Defense Facilities on their way to their objective. Unfortunately, as the Covenant neared the Orbital Defense Generators, someone at HIGHCOM panicked and ordered Longswords to bomb everything within 500 meters, resulting in the destruction of the Covenant ground forces in that location, but also catastrophic friendly fire: Charlie Company was reduced to four men, and its leaders: Lieutenants Jake Chapman and Buckman were killed. The Spartans, after being briefed on the situation by Charlie Company, responded to a distress call from Whitcomb, who requested immediate evacuation. Frederic-104, commander of the Spartans, split the remains of Red Team into four groups: Team Alpha (Frederic-104, Kelly-087, and Joshua-029), which was tasked with eliminating an encampment of 10,000 Covenant and their hovering cruiser (without doing anything that could damage the Orbital Defense Generators as the EMP from a nuclear weapon would render them inoperative and accomplish the Covenant's objective for them), Team Beta, tasked with defense of the Orbital Defense Generators, Team Gamma (Li-008, Anton-044, and Grace-093), ordered to retrieve Whitcomb, and Team Delta (the Charlie Company Marines and six wounded Spartans which included William-043, Isaac-039, and Vinh-030), ordered to secure the Spartans' fallback point at CASTLE Base. Team Alpha hijacked three Banshees and approached the Covenant encampment (they were ignored by the Grunt Zawaz, who assumed they were Elites on a secret mission) and used Fury Tactical Nuclear Weapons within the shields of the Covenant ship, destroying the encampment and negating the EMP effect that would have disabled the Orbital Defense Generators. Joshua was killed in the process by mass light weapons salvos from the 10,000 Covenant ground forces encamped around the Cruiser. The remaining Spartans of Team Alpha then fell back to CASTLE Base, blasting their way through the remaining Covenant in the area with two commandeered Wraiths. Team Gamma accomplished its mission and fell back to Camp Independence with Whitcomb, where they survived the partial glassing of the planet. Team Delta fell back to CASTLE Base, but in the process lost the remaining Charlie Company marines and every Spartan save for Vinh, Isaac, and William. When the remnants of Team Alpha and Team Delta arrived at CASTLE Base, they found Catherine Halsey there. Unfortunately, Team Beta was unable to stop the Covenant, who attacked in swarms of thousands. The Orbital Defense Generators were compromised, and the Covenant (after eliminating the powerless, immobile ODPs in geosynchronous orbit around the planet) began the glassing of Reach. Mission to Reach Station Gamma A CCS-class Battlecruiser initiates a pinpoint Slipspace jump over Reach.Added by Halo-343During the space battle, the AI Doppler, controller of Reach Station Gamma, was unable to destroy the vital information onboard the UNSC Circumference, an ONI Prowler involved in Operation: HYPODERMIC. As the Covenant deployed troops to the station, Doppler reported this violation of the Cole Protocol to the Pillar of Autumn before self-destructing himself to keep from further violation. In response, Captain Jacob Keyes sent John-117, James, and Linda-058 to the station. They accomplished their task and destroyed the NAV database onboard Reach Station Gamma, but at the cost of James and Linda. While onboard, they rescued some Marines onboard the station: Staff Sergeant Avery Junior Johnson and Privates Wallace Jenkins, Bisenti, and O'Brien. They then were evacuated by Pelican back to the Pillar of Autumn. Linda-058 was clinically dead, but there was a chance of saving her, so she was placed in a cryo-chamber. John-117 asked Lieutenant Hall to scan for James (who was blown into space) but they were unable to find him. Battle at Aszod :Main article: Battle of Aszod With the battle for Reach now nearing its conclusion, the Pillar of Autumn set down at the Aszod ship breaking yards for repairs as well as to receive the fragment of Cortana that Halsey had tasked Noble Team with delivering to Keyes. Covenant forces soon descended on the shipyards and began landing troops. Although the docked Autumn managed to hold off the Covenant attackers, most of the facility and the surrounding area was occupied. The remnants of Noble Team, consisting of Carter-A259, Emile-A239, and SPARTAN-B312, arrived on the outskirts of the facility. Carter sent Noble Six and Emile to deliver the package to Keyes. He then sacrificed himself to destroy a Scarab. Six and Emile fought their way to the shipyards, where they linked up with some surviving UNSC ground troops. Keyes then contacted the SPARTANs and ordered them to clear Landing Platform Delta so that he could pick up the package. Emile took charge of a mass driver and used it to provide cover fire for the Autumn. Six, meanwhile, cleared the platform of Covenant troops. With the platform cleared, Captain Keyes arrived in a Pelican and personally took possession of the package from Noble Six. Just then a CCS-class Battlecruiser appeared and started heading towards the Autumn. Keyes ordered Emile to take out the cruiser before it destroyed the Autumn. Emile, however, was attacked by a pair of Sangheili Zealots. The SPARTAN killed the Zealots but was mortally wounded himself, leaving the mass driver cannon unmanned. With the cruiser closing in on the Autumn, Noble Six volunteered to stay behind to take charge of the gun. The Pillar of Autumn escapes.Added by SubtankKeyes returned to the Autumn with the package and prepared the ship for take off. Meanwhile, Noble Six took possession of the mass driver and destroyed several Phantoms and Banshees before the cruiser came in range. As the cruiser prepared to destroy the Autumn with its energy projector, Six fired directly into the ship's exposed glassing port. The resulting explosion crippled the cruiser, which crash landed on the planet's surface. With the skies cleared of hostiles, the Autumn took off and escaped Reach. Once in space, it made a slipspace jump to Installation 04 (secretly arranged by Cortana). A dozen Covenant ships pursued, while the remaining vessels stayed behind to finish glassing Reach. Back at the shipyards, the stranded Noble Six continued fighting against the Covenant invaders. Eventually, the lone SPARTAN was overwhelmed and killed by a group of 7 Sangheili Zealots. editAftermath The Covenant fleet bearing down on Reach.Added by Halo-343Reach being glassed by the Covenant.Added by Jugus:"We are not wasting a single UNSC ship to confirm what we have already seen a dozen times before: Reach is gone. Everything on it is blasted to bits, burned, glassed over, and vaporized. Everyone on Reach is dead. Dead. Dead. Dead." :—Colonel James Ackerson12 The UNSC lost their second largest military-industrial complex, after the Sol System, and sustained crippling military losses at Reach, losing over a hundred ships, including irreplaceable cruisers and supercarriers such as the UNSC Basra, UNSC Trafalgar, and the UNSC Musashi, not to mention the large numbers of civilian and military personnel killed by the invading Covenant forces. With the Epsilon Eridani System in Covenant hands, there were no further major stop points before Sol. Some estimates put total defeat as a matter of weeks. The Office of Naval Intelligence believed that the location of Sol was compromised and began relocating heavy industry facilities and command centers out of the system.13 At the same time, despite such a devastating defeat the UNSC still fared better than in previous battles. Even against the militarily and technologically superior Fleet of Particular Justice, outnumbered 2:1, they still managed to inflict disproportionate losses to the Covenant, due largely to the twenty Orbital Defense Platforms orbiting Reach. The AI Cortana commandeered the fleeing UNSC Pillar of Autumn to the previously undiscovered fourth Forerunner Halo. While the Battle of Installation 04 was tangential to the main front, the containment of the initial Flood outbreak-and the experience gained-was just as critical to the survival of the UNSC. Rescue operation :Main article: Raid of Reach As the Covenant began glassing Reach, the surviving Spartans continued their fight. Team Gamma; a Red team splinter composed of Anton-044; Grace-093 and Li-008, had managed to survive and complete their mission to rescue Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb from HIGHCOM. Too late to reach CASTLE base, they hid in the mountains attacking Covenant units with the use of guerrilla tactics as opposed to a conventional assault. They programmed their MJOLNIR suits to transmit the "Oly Oly Oxen Free" secret code on E-Band radio, hoping that any surviving SPARTANs would discover it and help them. Meanwhile underneath the ruins of CASTLE base, Dr. Halsey and 5 SPARTANs (Fred; Kelly; Will; Vinh and Issac) had spent 5 days combing the remains of a Forerunner structure and an additional 5 days trapped in a hallway inside the ruins by Covenant forces. They managed to retrieve a Forerunner Crystal that the Covenant were seeking, but it emitted a burst of radiation which alerted the Covenant to their presence. Vinh and Issac fell at the hands of overwhelming Covenant forces, and the others escaped by blowing the hallway down behind them. After the survivors were recovered by Ascendant Justice, a Covenant Flagship captured by John-117 after the Battle of Installation 04, the ship drew a group of Covenant vessels out of the system in pursuit to Eridanus Secundus, leading to the destruction of the asteroid colony, and the destruction of the artifact and the recovery of a small number of pieces by the Covenant. Also, the Ascendant Justice destroyed around sixteen Covenant warships during the escape in Slipspace and at the rebel base. Category:Story Arcs